Two Jersey counties face lawsuit for strip-search policy

The ordeal began with a simple traffic stop. Albert Florence and his wife were cruising Route 295 in Burling­ton County when a state trooper pulled them over for speeding.

Although he was a passenger, Florence owned the sport utility vehicle, and when the trooper ran his identifica­tion through the computer, he turned up an outstanding warrant for an unpaid fine out of Essex County.

Florence produced documenta­tion to show the trooper that the fine had been paid two years earlier, but to no avail. He was taken to the Burlington County Jail, where he said he was strip-
searched and held for six days. When Essex County officials picked him up, he was transported to their jail, where he was again forced to disrobe.

''It was a very degrading experi­ence," Florence, 32, an auto dealership finance direc­tor who lives in Bordentown, said today of the 2005 in­cident. "No human being -- black, white, red or blue -- should be put through that kind of treatment."

To that end, Florence and his lawyer held a news conference in Newark today to announce a class-action lawsuit seeking to end strip-searches for prisoners held on nonindictable offenses --things such as traffic violations, loitering and public drunkenness.

Last week, a federal judge in Camden gave Florence's legal claims against the two counties,
some of their elected leaders and jail officials a boost by ruling the case can proceed on behalf of an estimated 7,000 plaintiffs.

Susan Chana Lask, Florence's lawyer, said the case started out strictly as a false arrest and unlaw­ful imprisonment suit on behalf of Florence.

But it was broadened when she realized there were thou­sands of other men and women strip-searched at jails in Burlington and Essex counties, even though they were accused of nonindictable offenses with no indication they were carrying drugs, weapons or other contraband.

She conceded that the trooper -- who was simply reacting to what appeared to be a legitimate war­rant -- had done nothing wrong. But she denounced jail officials.

''I've never seen two counties fight an obvious wrong like these two," said Lask, whose practice is in New York. "But the law is very clear -- they shouldn't be doing what they're doing."

In his March 20 opinion, U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodri­guez in Camden did not address the merits of the case. Lask said similar cases have been argued suc­cessfully in other states but never in New Jersey.

Rodriguez did get the attention of Essex County officials when he characterized the admission proce­dure for inmates at the county jail in Newark as a strip-search.

Essex County Counsel Harry J. Del Plato today defended the procedure as no more than a
shower that all inmates, regardless of offense, are required to take for sanitary reasons. Florence said he was forced to take the shower with other prisoners and in front of sev­eral jail officers.

''We plan to defend the case vig­orously," Del Plato said. "We feel the procedure described by the court is not a strip-search in the classic sense ..."

''Our policies and procedures are in accordance with the New Jersey Administrative Code,"
Burlington County Solicitor Peter H. Nelson said in a statement. "Accord­ingly, the county will vigorously de­fend itself against this lawsuit."